The Color Purple

Walker coined the term womanism to describe Black female identity that centers Black women’s experiences. What makes The Color Purple a womanist novel?

Discuss the significance of letter writing and writing in the novel. What impact does the epistolary form have on how you experience the plot and character development? What role do letters and writing play in the lives of the characters?

Celie evolves from a girl who accepts gender norms unquestioningly to a woman who directly challenges them in ways that may well have been shocking in her community and historical period. Discuss the evolution of Celie’s identity. What causes the change, and what are the key moments of that evolution?

Unlike many of the women in the novel, Shug manages to carve out a life that allows her to reject many of the racial and gender norms of the day. What accounts for her ability to violate these norms? Does she suffer any negative repercussions for flouting these norms? How does her understanding of her identity as a Black woman change (if at all) over the course of the novel?

What is the difference between your understanding of being religious versus being spiritual? Discuss how these two different understandings of one’s relationship with God or the sacred play out in the novel.

Describe the settings—cultural and historical—of the novel. What clues help you to identity the time, place, and culture of the novel? How does this setting shape the characters of the novel? Consider, for example, the subplot related to Sofia’s incarceration and her relationship with Eleanor Jane?

Consider Nettie’s account of what happens to the Olinka. What impact do European incursions have on the Olinka? What role does Christianity play in this destruction?

Although the novel mostly focuses on the evolution of Black female characters, the men in the novel evolve as well. How and why do characters such as Albert and Harpo change over the course of the novel?